AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. — An island-wide power outage hit Amelia Island for nearly 4 hours on the final day of early voting. Despite the blackout, the island’s primary early voting location at the Atlantic Rec Center remained open and fully operational using a backup generator.
Crews shut off electricity to the entire island just after 12:30 p.m. to complete emergency repairs on a major power line located over Shuckers Oyster Bar and Grill. The outage simultaneously affected customers of both Florida Public Utilities and Florida Power and Light.
The Atlantic Rec Center was the only precinct with electricity on the island during the blackout. Nassau County voter Bill Hanson lives near the polling location and noticed the sudden loss of electricity. “We live down the street. Surprised the power went out,” Hanson said. Although Hanson expected voting disruptions, precinct staff kept operations moving. “We’re driving down here, we’re figuring it’s gonna be a problem. But turns out it’s not that they had had a plan,” Hanson said.
The line repairs also impacted local transportation, forcing lane closures that reduced traffic on the Thomas J. Shave Bridge down to one lane. Jami McCormick of Nassau County Emergency Management asked residents without immediate business to stay off the roads. “We’re trying to, you know, eliminate any unnecessary traffic,” McCormick said.
Downtown Fernandina shop owners and visitors spent the afternoon waiting out the blackout in natural light. Wesley Jones, owner of Savannah Pizza Company, was mid-prep when the electricity dropped. “Had some slices inside the oven as this was going on,” Jones said.
At the Inkwell Art Bar, an owner voiced concern about electrical equipment ahead of evening business hours, saying, “Hopefully nothing malfunctions afterward.” Another individual reflected on the loss of power, asking, “What will I do? Yeah. I’ll suffer.”
Nassau County Emergency Management announced that power was fully restored to Amelia Island after nearly 4 hours. Early voting at the Atlantic Rec Center officially wrapped at 6 p.m.
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